Iron curse
by Shinza
Summary: It takes three years for Levy to get him back. Three long and lonely years, but giving up had never once crossed her mind. /GaLe/


**Hello dear Reader!**

 **Here's another one-shot, and probably not the last one. I've got this pretty big story in mind, so until I can put down on paper all the details I need/want, I'll be writing smaller stories before posting the multi-chapter one I'm working on.**

 **I got this idea while reading a _Teen Titan_ fanfic (I wonder if you'll find the connection my brain made before the end of the story, hehehe… Hint: I was reading a BBxTerra fic.). I hope you'll enjoy the read!**

 **Disclaimer : I do not own** ** _Fairy Tail_**

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 **Levy**

Three years.

He had been trapped for THREE long years. And every day his absence weighted her down, every day she repeated the events in her head, scanning every detail, trying every spell in her mind to see if she could have, somehow, saved him. She had spent the last years reading books, hunting down counter spells and curse repellants, passing sleepless nights transcribing notes and ancient texts, wasted endless days buried neck deep into scrolls, books, and even shady documents. Still, she felt powerless because reading and gathering information was all she could truly do to save him, and it was getting her nowhere. She was the brain and he was the bronze. He had always been the brute force, the strength behind her tactics, the ruthless warrior that never gave up while she was the relentless scholar that figured out all the answers, he was her indestructible dragon that always arrived at the right time to save her. And now he was imprisoned, and it was all her fault.

Levy stood up, gathering the last documents she had been transcribing as the sun started to rise on the horizon. She had spent another night working at her desk, but today she would go visit him again, and try another cure.

Stifling a yawn, she stuffed the last piece of information she had gathered into her traveling bag before heading to her bathroom. Turning the shower on while waiting for the water the heat up, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her messy blue locks were longer, brushing the top of her shoulders, her skin was a sickly pale white, and the bags under her eyes looked like bruises. No wonder her friends were so worried. When she was in Magnolia, she was either locked up in her room or at the library. When she left, it was either to see him or to find some kind of miracle cure, but she always came back alone and disheartened.

At first she had worked at the guildhall, her teammates cheering her on and trying to help her out in her search. But soon they noticed that she didn't eat or sleep properly, and became worried, pestering her when she was trying to work. She was touched to see how much they cared about her, but the guilt she felt kept her from 'taking care of herself before going out again', so she brushed their worries aside and continued her research.

They even locked her up in the infirmary once, in hopes that she would get a few hours of shuteye after she nearly fainted in the middle of the Guildhall. But how could she sleep anyways? Every time she closed her eyes, the events of that tragic day kept playing in her mind, she could still hear his shouts in her dreams, and no matter what she tried, she always failed to save him. After that, she would end up waking from the nightmares, gasping for air, tears rolling down her cheeks as she slowly broke down into pieces. She couldn't even say his name without having her voice cracking up on her. Since she couldn't get any decent sleep, she quickly decided that she might as well use her energy to find a cure, so she worked until she collapsed, stayed bedridden for a few days in a blissfully dreamless sleep, then got up and started her research again.

She knew her way of life wasn't healthy, and she knew that her friends' meddling was for her own good, but guilt plagued her, slowly eating away what his absence hadn't. She couldn't help it. Just like she couldn't help getting her hopes up every time she visited him, praying that she had found the right spell or concoction to free him, only to get these small slivers of hope completely crushed when it didn't work.

That's when she isolated herself. She didn't want anyone to worry about her. She didn't deserve it. She had had a huge fight with the other two Team Shadow Gear members, blaming them for the accident, then blaming herself while resenting them. It was cruel of her to push Jet and Droy away like she did, but she couldn't help being selfish when it came to the dragon slayer. They were her teammates, her Nakama, and Mavis knew that she loved the two idiots to bits, but that fight had taken a pretty heavy toll on the team. After a few months they had made peace, but until Levy found a way to free the iron dragon, they had decided to put their teaming up on hold.

The hardest people to be around were Lucy and Pantherlily. Lucy was her best friend, but Natsu was her teammate, and even if Levy knew they didn't blame her for what had happened, she still felt uncomfortable around the other dragon slayer. As for Pantherlily, facing him was the hardest thing she had to do. He refused to leave his partner's side, so Levy visited them at least once a week to bring food and other supplies to the little Exceed.

Shoving these thoughts aside, she climbed into the shower, letting the warm water run down her back, loosening the sore muscles in her neck and shoulders. As she mechanically picked up the soap, her mind was going a hundred miles an hour, running down the list of things she had to bring for this week's visit. Maybe, with a bit of luck, she would get a few hours of sleep in the train?

When she turned off the water, the room bathed in a thick fog as she dried herself up. In a matter of minutes, she had finished packing the last things she needed for her journey, and left her room.

The guild was still empty at this hour, but Mira had left a sandwich out for her, like every week. Levy felt herself smile, the small gesture cheering her up a bit as she picked up the meal. On her way to the train station, she started nibbling on the bread, realizing just how hungry she truly was, and finished her breakfast in no time. She couldn't even recall the last time that she had had a decent meal. Maybe it was two days ago when Lucy had dragged her out of the library to eat at the nearest café?

Levy lost herself in her thoughts as the train departed from Magnolia. She stared blankly at the passing scenery, eyelids growing heavy as the movements of the train lulled her to sleep. The next time she woke up from her dreamless nap, she noticed that the next station was her stop. Thirty minutes later, she picked her bag up, swinging it over her shoulder as the train slowed to a stop. Her feet guided her out of the small train station, mindlessly making her way towards the forest on the East side of the small town.

The first time she came here was with her team, Lily and his partner. That was three years ago. The mission was supposed to be pretty easy. A group of old archeologists had found a small temple in a forest and had needed help with deciphering the ancient inscriptions that covered the walls. It was the type of job that she excelled at. The only problem was that the forest was known for its less than friendly monsters, so Lily had volunteered himself, and a certain iron dragon slayer, to escort them during their mission.

Everything went smoothly, the temple covered in vines was easy to find thanks to the archeologists' instructions, and the monsters were dealt with pretty fast when the guys started to get bored with walking and decided to count how many monsters they each took out.

Once in front of the small temple, Levy was the first to enter, scanning the walls of the narrow passageway that lead to a huge rectangular room. The walls were, indeed, covered with writings, and it had taken Levy nearly two weeks to copy and translate each sections.

The writings counted the history of the old temple. Apparently, a very long time ago, when the dragons and humans were still at war with one another, in an era before dragons had taught humans dragon slayer magic, the strongest mages at the time had gathered here. They had spent years creating spells and incantations, potions and talismans, in order to repel dragons. After ten long years of research, they had finally found a way to keep dragons from entering, and destroying, the human villages. It was a curse that could be cast inside a lacrima, and when a dragon came in contact with the crystal, the element that protected the great beast would imprison and kill him. The last writings were on the floor, in the middle of the barren chamber. The story counted how the mages, scared that the dragons would find the temple and destroy their hard work, had hidden the instructions to make the curse in an underground chamber.

A few days after Levy had finished translating the ancient texts, the Fairy Tail mages met with the group of old archeologists to tell them about their findings. Of course, not wasting anymore time, the old explorers asked them if they were willing to search for the underground chamber, promising to double the reward if they discovered the recipe for the curse. Levy didn't really care for the reward, but curiosity got the better of her and she accepted the new request.

She had then passed the next two days searching every nook and cranny, pushing every stone, checking all her notes, trying to find a hidden passageway of some kind that would lead them to the undergrounds of the temple. On the morning of the third day, Lily's partner got tired of waiting and smashed through the stone floor, dead center of the room. As the tiles crumbled underneath his feet, he fell straight down in a cloud of dust. Once she had a clear view of the chamber again, Levy noticed that the brute had actually found the hidden room as he stood on a pile or rubble, arms crossed over his chest, looking up at her with that toothy smirk of his.

Without thinking, Levy jumped down, knowing that he would catch her, and giggled with excitement as her feet gently touched the pile of crumbled stone. She then started exploring the new cavity. It was twice as small as the area above them, but it had been completely carved out from the stony ground, and no writings could be found on the walls. On the far East corner there was a sort of alcove in which a lacrima and a scroll laid, covered in dust.

Levy reached out for the document when a large hand pulled her back, saving her from a falling rock. Jet and Droy had heard the temple floor collapse and had come over to check things out. Wanting to get down to the same level as their partner, Droy had used his plant magic to make a ladder. Unfortunately, the roots had shaken the already loose stones; creating small tremors as a part of the upper floor collapse into the cavity where Levy and the dragon slayer were. The falling rocks weren't anywhere near her, but the vibrations had caused the lacrima to start rolling near the edge of the alcove. Without thinking, Levy reached out to catch the fragile item before it could shatter itself on the ground, knowing her arms weren't long enough for her to reach the precious artifact in time. From the corner of her eye, she saw a strong arm reach out for the lacrima at the same time as her.

That was when her world had started to crumble. Just as the dragon slayer caught the crystal ball, he let out a blood-curling roar, holding his arm as the lacrima started glowing. Levy was petrified as she saw him scream out in agony as his body slowly turned into iron. She reached out for the cursed object and snatched it out of his hands, but it was too late. The lacrima turned into a pile of dust between her fingers as the person she trusted the most now stood before her as a statue of iron.

After seeing that, she had cried, yelled and hit at the statue hopelessly, telling him to snap out of it, but nothing happened. It had taken Jet, Droy and Pantherlily in his full size to get her out of the temple to try to calm her down. They had allowed her back into the Temple only the next morning, hoping that it all had been some kind of sick joke, but she found him exactly has she had left him the day before. After that, anger took over. She was angry at Droy and his stupid plants, angry at the stupid dragon slayer for having reached out for the cursed artifact, and angry at herself. She had accepted to find the recipe for the curse even if she was already aware that it affected dragons, and could eventually affect a dragon slayer mage. She knew the curse could be put into a lacrima, and still tried saving the damned thing when it was going to fall. She knew he had tagged along because she was such a klutz and always found herself in dangerous situations. And she knew that he would always try protecting her, and help her get what she wanted. He had said it himself, all those years ago when she had been chosen as an S mage candidate; that he would make her big.

Levy had picked up the old parchment that had been placed next to the lacrima now turned to dust, and swore that she would fix this. Because it was her fault, and there was no way that she would accept the fact that she was responsible for the downfall of one of her Nakama.

After that, days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and months turned into years. She lost hope countless times, but she still searched for a way to bring him back. She tried every potion, every talisman, every spell and counter curse she could find. By Mavis, she had even kissed him when a very drunk Lucy had told her that a true love's kiss could break any spell. But nothing had worked. She didn't even dare to try moving him from the temple to the guild, scared that he might get damaged, or worse, during the trip. The only good news was that since he wasn't a real dragon, the curse shouldn't kill him… in theory. Moreover, the scroll that she had picked-up held the instructions to reproduce the curse, but other than that, she hadn't found any clues on how to reverse the damned spell.

Levy let out a deep sigh as she reached the temple's entrance. Lily had even gotten rid of all the vines that had once covered the small structure, but even then they hadn't found any clues. The solid script mage walked slowly to where she knew Lily had been camping out for the past few years, not seeing the black shadow heading towards her. She let out a surprised yelp as a small sized Lily crashed into her arms. He looked excited and wary as he dragged her to the underground cavity where the iron statue was. Sending a sad smile to the petrified man, she followed Lily to the alcove that had once held the two artifacts.

The Exceed then instructed her to lie down in the alcove while pressing her ear to the far out wall. She didn't really understand where he was going with this, but decided to do as asked. At first she didn't hear anything so she tried getting up, only to find Lily urging her to listen carefully. Lying back down, she closed her eyes and held her breath as she listened carefully for what Lily wanted her to hear. After a few moments, she heard it. It was the soft echo of a water droplet falling into a hollow cave. No wonder the Exceed had felt restless; there was probably another room behind the alcove.

Last night, when a thunderstorm had hit, the black Exceed had flown to his partner, hiding from the rain and thunder inside the alcove, and that's when Lily has noticed the echo.

Not wasting any time, Levy wrote out the word ACID into the carved out stone, and watched eagerly as the wall slowly melted away. Less than an hour later the small blue haired mage, and the cat, were crawling through the alcove's wall, and into a third chamber. Writing out the word LIGHT, Levy started exploring the now lit room, heart thundering with excitement and anticipation. This time she found another wall covered in carvings that seemed more recent than the ones from the upper room. As she started translating, her heart rate quickened as a sliver of hope made it's way into her mind.

The text had been written after the peace treaty between the dragons and the humans, when the dragons had decided to teach mages Dragon Slayer Magic. The humans had agreed to the peace treaty and, to prove their goodwill, had sealed away the recipe of the curse with an antidote. Of course, to prevent someone from stealing the curse and destroying the antidote, the mages had hidden the scrolls containing the recipe of said antidote into a different chamber. Once the translation done, she picked up the parchment that was encased in the stonewall next to the writings, and carefully read out the instructions. It was a potion that, once ready, needed to be poured over the victim in order to dispel the petrifying curse.

Levy and Lily then spent the entire night collection the ingredients and brewing the potion, finishing up as the first rays of light peeked out from the horizon. The liquid concoction in hand, the two guild members ran to the cursed dragon slayer and Levy dunked the entire brew over the iron statue with shaking hands. She didn't have to wait long until the cold iron covering her Nakama's body started to peel itself off, giving way to warm tanned skin.

Levy unconsciously raised her hand to his cheek, trembling fingers brushing off fragments of iron away from his eyes, his brow, his nose, his lips,… carefully removing the small flakes as she combed her fingers through his long black locks…

"Oi, why're ya crying, Shrimp?"

She had been so mesmerized with the fact that the potion had actually worked that she hadn't noticed when he had started moving, or that her tears had started flowing again.

"G-Gajeeeel!"

She threw her arms around his neck, burying her face into the curve of his collar as she cried. She had finally suceeded, she had found a cure, after three long and lonely years.

Gajeel ignored his stiff muscles and placed his hands on the small of her back, holding her as close as he could as he molded her smaller frame to his larger one, not wanting to let her go as she cried herself to sleep in his arms.

He would get an explanation on what the hell had happened to him later. For now, all he knew was that his Levy was here, and that he wasn't counting on letting her leave his side anytime soon.


End file.
